Apple becomes world's fifth largest PC vendor

The fifth largest PC manufacturer in the world isn't even strictly a PC manufacturer.

But do away with the PC/Mac distinction and regard all computers for personal use as a whole, and Apple has overtaken Asus to grab fifth in the ranking behind Lenovo, HP, Dell and Acer who claim first to fourth respectively.

IDC's latest PC market report says that the overall sector declined 1.7 per cent in Q3 – which was somewhat better than the anticipated 4.1 per cent decline and certainly a lot better than the 7.6 per cent decline seen the year before.

It even goes as far as to predict a five per cent rise in 2015.

The aforementioned top five all saw increased sales of between five and 12 per cent, although other vendors endured a 17.9 per cent decline. The fastest growth was seen in the US.